214.] The important consideration in regard to this question is the series of circumstances attending the handling of the timber after it is felled.

Wood dries more rapidly in summer than in winter, not because there is less moisture at one time than another, but because of the higher temperature in summer.

This greater heat is often accompanied by low humidity, and conditions are favorable for the rapid removal of moisture from the exposed portions of wood.

Wood dries by evaporation, and other things being equal, this will proceed much faster in hot weather than in cold.
It is a matter of common observation that when wood dries it shrinks, and if shrinkage is not uniform in all directions the material pulls apart, causing season checks.

(See Fig.